“Keep back, both of you,” Bramblestar warned.
He crouched down at the edge of the water, stretching out his neck so that he could lap. He dug his claws hard into the ground, fighting the fear of being swept away like a loose twig. But the water he drank had a cold, clear taste that reminded him of the mountains.
“Thank StarClan, it’s fine!” he meowed, rising and backing away.
As he spoke the patter of rapid paw steps came from farther upstream, along with angry yowls and hisses. To Bramblestar’s astonishment a WindClan patrol raced into sight on the ThunderClan side of the stream.
Weaselfur, who was in the lead, let out a furious screech. “Get away from there!”
Bramblestar faced him, his fur bristling. “What do you mean?” he demanded. “You’re on our territory!”
Behind him, he was aware of Berrynose and Poppyfrost sliding out their claws. The two other WindClan cats, Leaftail and Furzepelt, hurtled toward them as if they were about to leap into battle.
But Weaselfur halted when he reached the ThunderClan cats, signaling to his patrol to do the same. “This is the only clean water we have,” he mewed, glaring at Bramblestar. “We have reset the border markers to this side of the stream. It belongs to WindClan now.”
“Don’t be mouse-brained!” Bramblestar snapped. “Look at all that water! There’s enough for every cat.”
But the WindClan warriors were too wound up to listen. “Stay away from that water!” Furzepelt snarled.
Poppyfrost took a step forward. “Do you really want to fight for it?” she growled.
At once Leaftail hurled himself at her, knocking her over and clawing at her ears. Berrynose started forward to help her, but Bramblestar flung himself between them, pushing the cream-colored warrior back with a paw on his shoulder.
“Stop!” he growled. “Poppyfrost can cope. I don’t want an all-out battle.”
As the two cats rolled screeching on the ground, Bramblestar turned to Weaselfur. “This is madness,” he meowed. “You can’t shift an entire border because the lake has risen.”
“Yes, we can,” Weaselfur retorted, “and we have. If you have a problem, you’ll have to speak to Onestar. But know that ThunderClan cats will not be welcome in our territory.”
For a moment all Bramblestar’s instincts were to leap on the WindClan warrior and claw the stubborn look off his face. We can beat these scrawny rabbit-chasers easily! But fighting here wouldn’t solve anything. Instead he stalked across to the two battling cats and hauled Poppyfrost away from Leaftail.
“That’s enough,” he ordered. “We’re leaving.”
Poppyfrost stood up, panting. There was a trickle of blood coming from one of her ears, and she was missing a few tufts of fur, but the scratches down Leaftail’s side showed that it had been an equal fight.
“Is that it?” Berrynose hissed, coming to stand beside his mate. “You’re going to let them get away with this?”
“No,” Bramblestar replied. “But I’m going to think before I do anything.”
“Think!” Berrynose echoed, turning to Poppyfrost and giving her injured ear a lick.
Bramblestar ignored the hostile glares from the WindClan cats as he led his patrol away from the stream. His mind was whirling.
ThunderClan can survive without this stream while the forest is full of rainwater. But what does the flooded lake mean for the rest of the Clans? If ThunderClan and WindClan are so badly affected, have ShadowClan and RiverClan survived at all?
Chapter 10
Bramblestar returned to the tunnel to find the cats spreading out bedding for nests. He could tell at once that their optimistic mood had changed to irritation as the reality of their homelessness set in.
“That’s not nearly enough bedding for Briarlight’s nest,” Millie complained.
“I’m sorry, but she’ll have to make do for now,” Daisy meowed, looking flustered. “We can get more later.”
Millie huffed with annoyance as she took away the bundle of moss and leaves.
Daisy whirled around when she spotted Snowpaw and Dewpaw play fighting on top of the pile she was trying to distribute, scattering moss everywhere. “What do you think you’re doing?” she snapped. “If that’s how you treat the bedding, you don’t deserve to have any.”
“It’s all wet and yucky anyway,” Snowpaw whined.
Daisy took a deep breath, as if she was trying to hold on to her temper, then decided not to bother. “You ungrateful little furball!” she hissed. “If you’re so miserable here, feel free to go back and sleep in your den!”
Snowpaw blinked up at her. He wasn’t used to hearing that tone from Daisy. “Sorry,” he muttered.
Purdy loomed out of the shadows with the other apprentices behind him. “Come on, young ’uns,” he rumbled. “Let’s get some moss, an’ you can show me how to make a nest. Then we’ll all bed down together.”
“Will you tell us again how you escaped from the hollow?” Lilypaw begged.
“I sure will!”
“Thank StarClan for Purdy,” Daisy sighed as the elder and the apprentices disappeared down the tunnel with their share of the bedding. “He’s so good with those young cats.”
“But he wouldn’t take any fresh-kill,” Blossomfall told Bramblestar, coming up to him with a worried look. “I did everything I could, short of shoving the rabbit down his throat, but it was no use. He told me to give it to the warriors instead.”
“We can’t have that,” Bramblestar meowed. “Thanks for telling me, Blossomfall.”
There were still some scraps of rabbit on the new fresh-kill pile. Picking up the biggest piece, Bramblestar padded down the tunnel until he found Purdy supervising the apprentices as they made their nests. Bramblestar dropped the rabbit at the elder’s paws. “Eat.”
Purdy refused to meet his gaze. “I’m not hungry.”
“Purdy, I won’t stand for any heroics,” Bramblestar insisted. “We all need to keep our strength up.”
The old cat turned away, gazing down into the darkness. “I’m not worth the effort of hunting,” he muttered.
“Never say that!” Bramblestar protested. “The warrior code is built on caring for our elders and kits.”
Purdy turned back to him and met Bramblestar’s gaze. His eyes were wide and distressed. “But I never served this Clan as a young cat,” he rasped. “And now, with Mousefur gone, things aren’t the same.”
Bramblestar took a deep breath and looked at Purdy with his head on one side. “Purdy, you’re being unfair. If you hadn’t saved us from the dog the first time we met, we might not have reached the sun-drown-place, and the Clans might never have made the Great Journey. And what do you think would have happened in the Great Battle, if you hadn’t saved Lionblaze when he was trapped with the dogs? ThunderClan owes you more than we can ever repay.”
Purdy shrugged. “Maybe,” he meowed with a flash of his old stubbornness, “but I still think you need to worry about the cats who need worrying about.” But he did sit down, tucked in his paws, and began to eat the rabbit.
As Bramblestar returned up the tunnel, Squirrelflight stepped up to his side. “What’s the matter? You look as if you bit into a vole and found it was crow-food.”
She listened while Bramblestar told her about his conversation with Purdy. “Hmm…” she murmured when he had finished. “I think I know what the problem is. Sandstorm!” She beckoned to her mother, who was arranging her nest a tail-length away.